Door-actuating mechanism.



F. A. LESTER.. D008 ACTUATING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 9, 1915. I

Patented Oct. 2,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F. A. LESTER.

DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 9. SIS.

1,242,001 Patented 001;. 2,1917.

F. A. LESTER.

DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 9. 1915.

Patented Oct. 2, 1917.

3 SHEET$SHEET 3.

I FREDERICK A. LESTER, E cnrcaeo, ILLINOIS,

VDOOB-ACTUATING EcHANi'sM,

l specification of Letters latentl Application filed February 9, 1915. Serial Nb. 7, 176.

To'all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. LESTER,

' a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing. at

. Chicago, in the county of Cook' and State of'lllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Actuating Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings,- forming apart hereof; 1

This invention relates generally to' door actuating: mechanism, and has reference more particularly to. that type of door actuating Inechanism'designed to close'a grain door,.or the like, and to retract it-from its closed position-in the doorway opening: to;

an open or partially openpositioniopposite the. doorway opening. 3 3' 1 -My "invention has for its principal obj ects to provide-a simple, durable and eflioient device of the character describedwhich can be readily and cheaply applied tothe door and doorway frame'at a vom'lnimum cost;

1 andffurthermore to produce a; device in g bodiment of my improved device as applied Vmy to -'-the-grain, door ofa railway box car, when'in' closed position; I V V Figs. 3 and 4 are: similar fragmentary views ofthe invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, showing the door in open position; I V

Figs. 5and 6 representdetailedviews of the sealing element, and

(Fig. 7 represents a perspective view of the door when opened byithe actuating de-vice.

For-purposesof illustration, I have shown my invention as applied to a grain door of, the typeshownp-anddescribed in loo-pendingapplication Serial No. 874,640, and which is preferably set in flush,

side of the door,

way frame,'and pivotally or movably hung from the frame at or near its'upper end, for example the manner shown andf-de SCIlbBCt 1n said co-pending application, so

asto permititsretraction by the door actuating mechanism to a new and partially open position opposite the door opening.

It will be understood 'that when so moved to' tlllS partially open position, the grain near; the doordischarges, andthis discharge of grain is-guided by the doofthroughthe opening thus provided,- in the manner :pio torially shown "in Fig.' 5, into the grain chute 0f the elevator, vthus ultimately re .lieving-the pressure against" the door and soas to permit its movement clearof the doorway" opening, whereupon the unloading operation may be completed by 'the employ- Patented'Oct. 2,1917;

ment of graini scoops or other unloading,

devices. i

"Referring to'the drawings, the numeral 6 indicatesthe 'door, and* 7 the doorway. frame. As previously indicated, my inven tion more particularly: resides in the door l actuating, device, which] preferably com prises the doorrframe'engaging member A;

andthemanually operablelever member 13,

both of which cooperate to retracttthe: door to-its partially open position and to return 1 itQtoits closed position where'it is maintained against opening movement. The

doorefr'ame engaging member A embodiesa shaftbody membermounted on the: door for axial movement in eyes 9 and-extends hori zontally across the door to terminate in the bent end portions 8. 1 Intermediately of the eyes 9, theshaft is. formed with an offset or crank 10,1which istoifset substantially in the opposite direction to that of direction of bend in the end portions and in the position of-the crank as 'shown in Figs, 1-and"2, the bentend portions are designed to extend upwardly to engage with the keepers'll which are bolted to the doorway frame at either P'votally mounted on the doorthe member A, as at 12, is the actuating member B provided at its upper end with r-la eawher byat sep rate t etmeinh 9A;

The normal relative arrangement of the end portions 8 and crank 10 is preferably such that they extend respectively above and below the axial line of the shaft when positioned as shown in Fig. 1.

From the description thus far made, it will be obvious that in order to retract the door to its partially open position so as to obtain the initial grain discharge, the crank 10 is forced upwardly on a short are by manipulation of the lever rod 15 to the right on its pivot 12, consequently depressing the end portions 8 which working against the bases of the keepers 11. force the door outwardly to theposition shown in Figs. 3, a and 7, where they serve to support the door in its new position.

With a view to providing, a sealing device for the door and as a means for retaining the leverrod in position when the door is closed, I have shown a preferential construction embodying a slidable lock bar 16 formed at one side of its median line with a vertical slot 1'? which terminates at its upper end in a lateral 17*, in which latter a headed pin 18 rigid with the door normally seats to carry the bar and upon which it moves. The lower end of the bar has an offset tongue 19 adapted to freely enter and seat in an aperture 20 formed in the threshold plate, and further is suitably provided with. an outwardly extending sealing flange 19 If desired, a recess 21 may be provided at the rear of the bar, which opens into the space back of the onset tongue in which recess a stud 22 is adapted to travel, nor mally being seated at its upper terminal and in substantial vertical alinement with the pin 18 in the lateral 17 and below it, as more clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

This lock bar 16 is positioned adjacent the lower end of the lever rod 15, and in its line of travel, the rod being outwardly bent near said end to constitute a handheld 23, and is also formed with an angular extension 24 over which thetongue l9 normally extends to hold the rod in locked position. A. complementary member to the sealing flange 19 may be mounted on the door, but by preference I show an angle bar 25 extending across and secured at or near the bottom edge of the door which is bent sufficiently away to permit the passage therethrough of the tongue 19 into the seat on aperture 20, the outwardly extending flange 25* thereof and sealing flange 19 being correspondingly apertured to receive the seal 26.

The limiting positions of the lever rod 15 are clearly shown in the drawings. 'When it is desired to open the door, the seal is first broken, then the slotted bar is moved upwardly and to the left on the pin 18 into the clearance provided by the handheld 23, and at the same time disengaging from the bent end 2i, thus permitting the freemovement of the lever rod 15 and the opening of the door as already described. To close the door, the lever rod is given reverse movement, whereupon the end members 8 engage the keepers 11, and the lever-rod is then locked by the sealing device. The terminals of the end members 8 are preferably curved as shown, in order to facilitate their entrance into and engagement with the eyes of the keepers.

In order to properly limit the movement of the door when moving-to this new position, 1 preferably provide the brackets 27 secured to the door frame below the threshold and adjacent the angle bar 25, and whose stop flange 28 is spaced sufficiently away to permit this movement and against which the lower edge of the door is intended to take when the door is so moved. This bracket carries a swinging jaw 29 which may be swung'out of the way when the door is to be opened, and returned to a wedging position against the flange 25*, as more clearly shown in Fig. 2, whereby torelieve the oper ating parts from undue strain which might be alaced upon them by lead pressure.

ne of the principal advantages attained by my improved construction is that the movable members are compactly arranged so as to take up but little space during their operation, and in this connection I have special reference to the member 13 whose movement is in a substantially vertical plane, this being particularly advantageous where working space is limited, such as between cars, or between a car and an elevator, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

I do not intend to restrict myself to the exact arrangement of the parts nor to the precise details of construction as shown, for it is obvious that'variations therefrom may be mace without in any way departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as pointed out in the appended claims. 1

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by means of Letters Patent, is the following 1. In combination, a door actuating mec anism including a lever mounted for movement in the plane of the door and having a portion thereof bent away from the door to provide a clearance therebetween, a locking device normally locking with the lever and disposed in the path of said lever, said device being mounted on said door for swinging movement into said clearance and out of the path of travel of said lever as the lever is actuated.

2. The combination with a door, of a door actuating member mounted for swinging movement in the plane of the door, and a locking device normally positioned in the path of and looking with said lever to hold In testimony whereof I have hereunto the same against movement in one directlon, slgned my name and. afiixed my signaturein said device pivotally mounted on the door and the presence of the two subscribed Witnesses. 10

slotted for slidable movement relatively of n .FREDERICK A. LESTER. its pivot whereby to clear said actuating Witnesses:

member and permit movement of the same W. HERBERT FoWKEs,

in both directions. FRANK JAGER.

1 copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressin the commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. u 

